Gayle Thrilled With 'Perfect' Hat-Trick

Dwight Gayle was thrilled with his first hat-trick in league football.

Striker Dwight Gayle scored his first hat-trick in league football in Peterborough United's 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers and admitted he was 'thrilled' with his 'perfect' treble.

Gayle opened the scoring with his left-foot, doubled the advantage with his head and then calmly completed his hat-trick with clinical right-foot finish.

'It is the biggest achievement in my career to date, definitely,' Gayle said as he faced the media in a theatre-like press room at Ewood Park. 'This time last year I was playing in non-league and now I am playing at fantastic stadiums and scoring goals. It is a dream for me.

'I was delighted to score one because it has been a long time without a goal, but the lads created some good chances for me and it is fantastic to score a hat-trick, particularly as it was left-foot, right-foot and my head.

'I was particularly pleased with my header if I am honest, mainly because I had not scored one for Peterborough before. I have 10 goals now and I am really happy with that. When I first joined I didn't even expect to be in the team so to play as much as I have is brilliant.

'It was a good team performance, we needed the three points. I think we were a bit apprehensive for some reason in the games against Birmingham and Bolton, but we played very well against Blackburn and we need to take that into Tuesday night's game now,' Gayle said.

The victory lifted Posh off the bottom of the Championship table and Darren Ferguson's men are just a point from safety and still have a game in hand on several other teams around them in the league.